Not Another Zombie Apocalypse!
by AineRose
Summary: The inevitable zombie apocalypse reaches Stars Hollow. Pretty graphic in the blood and guts area. Lit, JJ. Oneshot.


**Okay, this is completely random I know, but it just swooped into my head and I went with it. Also, I have to say that I've read a lot of these types of fics, and although I've tried to make this original, some of the old cliches like hiding at Luke's and quoting apocalypse movies and books were so compelling I couldn't resist. So hopefully this isn't too much like any other fics. I always worry about these things especially in such a well-defined genre as zombie horror! **

**Let me know what you think! I've never gone the gory horror route before and I'd like to know what everyone thinks! I might go back and change it later, who knows, but for now it's done.**

**Lots of line breaks :( It's not the prettiest.**

**Also, rated for language and graphic goryness. Be warned.**

* * *

They don't know exactly how it happens, but they wake up one morning and the television signals all over the eastern seaboard are down. They resort to the radio, but they find only static and the occasional scream for help. They know that something is coming.

They do not know what.

* * *

The creatures were human once, but all humanity has been stripped of them. Their skin is melted and burned from their bones as they lumber forward, in search of their next victims. They cannot speak, cannot communicate. Their _raison d'__être_ is to feed.

(Nobody ever uses the Z-word).

(Except Lorelai).

* * *

_There is a sharp rap on the door, desperate and frantic. It is instantly recognisable as human, in contrast to the mindless, rhythmic thumps they are accustomed to._

_Rory and Lorelai stand slowly. "Do you hear that?" _

_Patty moves to the door. Tries to see through the cracks. Fails. "Should we?"_

* * *

They don't have time to help Richard and Emily, to find out if Paris or Chris or Jess is alive. They first wave comes on a Tuesday morning, and they are not ready for it.

The survivors hole themselves up in two places: Miss Patty's, and the school gymnasium. The school gives way pretty quickly. Luke kept the girls alive the first day, using brute strength and a baseball bat to clear their path to the diner. He got them inside, kissed Lorelai, and left them to find April in Woodbridge.

A week later, they give up hope for him.

* * *

In the apartment above the diner, Lorelai and Rory barricade the doors and windows and sharpen knives and sticks. "Do you think they're zombies or vampires?" Lorelai asks Rory only once.

Rory holds up the stake in her hand. "Just aim for the head," she says with steely determination. She does not recognise her own voice.

They last four days in Luke's. Rory reads Jess' old books and stares at her tiny, pale hands. Lorelai hums songs about the apocalypse.

* * *

In retrospect, holing themselves on the second floor was a bad idea. Rory breaks her arm jumping down onto the pavement below, and Lorelai twists her ankle. They make their way across the square to the dance studio. A week later, Rory still has her sticky blood spurts of her attackers on her shirt.

Killing, she finds, is not as difficult as expected.

* * *

_Rap. Rap. Rap._

* * *

In the studio, paranoia sets in. Nobody knows what the hell is going on, or how the infection spreads, if it is caused by infection at all. There is talk of a nuclear explosion up north, of mutant viruses from Russia. Taylor is adamant that it is terrorists; Mrs. Kim, the devil. Lorelai and Rory do not offer their suggestions, choosing instead to sit in the dark corner and list every disaster movie cliché they can fathom to take their minds off the fact that Luke is dead, and so is every other member of their family.

* * *

"_I don't know!" Taylor panics._

"_Shut up!" Lorelai holds up a hand, her face alert. "I think that's Luke!"_

_She rushes to the barricaded door and begins pulling it down. The light hits them harshly and they all draw back from the shock. A bulky figure darts in to the room. Lorelai darts over to hug him but stops swiftly when she realises he is carrying something._

_Rory steps forward from the shadows. "Is that...?" she trails off, voice shaking._

* * *

They plan an attack. A short burst of fire to scare their attackers. It is Taylor's idea. He wants to let those terrorists know that they will not be bullied like this. They hoist their guns and bats and golf clubs onto their shoulders and burst out onto the square.

Lorelai says in her deepest voice: _"__It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark."_

Nobody understands that this is the only way she can cope.

The air is thick with screams and the smell of decay. Rory is wrestled to the ground; a twisted mouth expels rotting breath into her hair. Hands frantically and blindly grab at her breast. She thinks she will die having never finished Proust's 3000 page À La Recherché Du Temps Perdu___. _Somewhere behind her, someone bashes the monster in the head with the butt end of a shotgun. Before she has time to catch her breath, her mother is pulling her up and they are running back to the dance studio.

"Screw this suicide mission!" Lorelai shouts through the crowd.

* * *

It is surprisingly difficult to remove a head. A quick bash won't do it, and the skull really does its job in protecting the brain. You need time, and if you are as piss weak as Rory, a saw.

* * *

___________Luke is barely standing from exhaustion and the weight of his load. His clothes are dripping with blood and grime. His baseball cap has been completely battered. His face is gaunt and drawn. His eyes speak of untold horror. He tenderly places the bundle in his arms onto some pillows and falls to the floor. _

___________"He needs help," he croaks._

* * *

The second attack comes to them. A hand beats through the last remaining window and suddenly there is chaos.

They lose Kirk and Babette.

* * *

___________Rory kneels down and scoots closer to the figure. He is alive, but just barely._

_________"__Jess..." she breathes._

___________She moves her hands down to remove the crude bandaging on his neck in torso, and the colour drains from her face._

___________His throat has been viciously ripped out. She can see his pulse in the pool of gushing blood. He takes desperate gasping breaths, choking on his own blood. It is obvious he is beyond helping._

_________"__How did he survive this long?" Lorelai wonders somewhere in the background._

_________"__I think," Luke murmurs, affectionately, "that he wanted to say goodbye."_

_________"__Stubborn bastard," Lorelai says, but she smiles a little._

* * *

Taylor is so certain that the army will arrive at any moment, or a police force, or _something_. He spends his days trolling the radio frequencies, searching ceaselessly for some sign that help is on the way. That they have a chance. Rory and Lorelai just want to die quickly, and not turn into monsters who attack their friends.

The food runs out, and they have to do a re-con mission to Doose's. There are small clusters of survivors hidden all over, they discover. Barricaded in the stock room of Doose's, they find Lane, with Zach and the boys. Thankfully there is enough food for the babies, and Lane graciously lets them take some supplies where a stranger would have shot them.

* * *

___________Jess' eyes are rolling around in his head. Rory isn't sure if he is blind, if he is even aware that she is there. She puts her head down beside his, and whispers his name. His hand reaches out, searchingly. She gently entwines her fingers with his._

___________For the briefest of seconds, his eyes focus on hers. There is something that looks like triumph in his eyes._

_________"__He was running," Luke tells her very quietly. "He wasn't being stupid and trying to fight them, he was taking care of himself." _

___________For the first time in her life, Rory wishes Jess had run away faster._

* * *

_________"_I don't want to do this anymore," Lorelai bursts. "I can't do this anymore!"

"You have to," Luke tells her, and holds on to her tightly. "There is no other option."

* * *

___________Very slowly, Rory brushes her lips against Jess' mouth. _

___________She tastes his blood on her teeth._

* * *

In the end, they give up hiding. It's pretty much unanimously agreed that death would be a whole lot less painful than living in such cramped quarters and slowly going insane. Bickering set in almost instantly, and nobody has left since Bootsy obstinately stamped out one dawn and was swallowed up instantly.

Even Taylor has given up hope of outside help, and there are now less than ten of them left: Rory, Lorelai, Luke, Taylor, Morey, Gypsy, Andrew and Mrs. Gleeson.

There are no children left in Patty's Dance Studio.

They are dirty, and hungry, and cold, and tired. Tired of hiding, tired of fighting to stay alive.

Luke co-ordinated the battle plans a hell of a lot better than Taylor ever could. They argue that they have a reasonable enough chance of getting the town back but no more than that.

* * *

___________Rory rests her head on his shoulder and counts his heart beats._

* * *

"Do you think if I had read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, would it have helped?" Lorelai asks Rory grimly.

"I doubt it," Rory smiles. "I Am Legend, on the other hand..."

"Oh God," Lorelai sighs. "I got like ten minutes into that movie."

She looks around the dark, disgusting room. All around her, people are preparing. "You know what's really disappointing?"

"The lack of _Mad Max_ bondage clothing in this post-apocalyptic world?"

Lorelai laughs, and then shudders. "Don't say things like that, I'm imagining Taylor in pleather now!"

* * *

_________"__I couldn't find them," Luke chokes back tears. "April and Anna. The house was deserted."_

_________"__Maybe that was a good thing," Lorelai tries to comfort him, but she knows she is lying, and so does he._

* * *

Luke taps her on the shoulder. "You ready?"

Lorelai squares her shoulders. "As I'll ever be."

He kisses her. "I love you."

Lorelai looks back to her daughter. "Now you know you can stay here where it's safe. You don't have to do this."

Rory shakes her head. "No chance. I'm ready for this."

Lorelai gives her a one-armed hug. "I love you, kid."

"Love you too, Mom."

"Just think," Lorelai closes her eyes. "If we can get back to our house, we can get some food-"

"Doubtful," Rory jokes, her smile a little watery.

"And a bed, and some sleep. Even for a little while. Plus, we can... you know."

Rory nods. "Bury our loved ones. I'd like that."

They look over to a pile in the corner. Because they cannot even open their door an inch without attack, they cannot get rid of anything. They have become accustomed to the smell of rotting carcasses, human excrement, and decomposing food.

They take a deep breath together, foreheads touching, Lorelai's hand on Rory's wrist.

"Everyone ready?" Luke calls.

Rory pulls away and hoists a shovel. Lorelai cocks her shotgun and lifts it up.

"Lock and load," she says with dead seriousness.

"That was so cool," Rory whispers behind her.

"I know, right?"

Luke removes the last of the barricades and throws open the door. They blink in the late afternoon sunlight, before rushing outside into the square, screaming, brandishing their weapons.

* * *

___________When Rory wakes, his heart is quiet, and his body cold._

_The End._

_Don't forget to review! I'll love you forever!_

_Here I will also pimp my livejournal (ainerose. livejournal. com without the spaces). It's got some Lit drabbles and a heroes fic that isn't on here yet, and more to come :)_


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